I’m a city kid, born into the busy streets and lively times of a big city. There’s always something going on in a city. There’s always something to see. I guess it is to be expected when you cram so many people into one seething, confronting place. The people scream to be heard, demand to be seen. It’s the only way to stand out from the masses, I guess.
And, I love the essential expression of humanity that is constantly on show. My latest obsession is with stencil graffiti. Here’s why:
It haunts me. She looks out from a tunnel on Punt Road, Richmond. And, I deliberately drive by there every time I am back in the city. She has become a feature of my town, etched into my remembrance of the people I grew up with. See, we grew up with the figures and poses captured in the graffiti. And, as much as art mirrors the people, the people have mirrored the art. That’s the thing about stencil graffiti. They confront you. In the most ordinary and unexpected of places. Artists must choose carefully, but they must also choose hastily. They have little time to transform a blank wall into a canvas. And that transformation can’t easily be undone. The art becomes inextricably tied to both the location. And, to the town. See, my home town is Stencil Graffiti Capital.
I can imagine the artist designing and trying out their art for what must seem like ages. Early sketches become cardboard cut-outs. Lofts become littered with failed images. And, then, in one late night rush, all the anticipation unfolds onto the blank slate of the public space. In the new morning light, the art is unveiled. Do the artists come back to admire their work? Do they watch other people and how they respond to their art? Do they tell them that they made it last night? Or is the art lost to anonymity and the vagaries of time.
So, I was wondering. Is there a place for stencil graffiti in my new town? Will there be an appreciative audience for the statements embodied in this art? And, then, one day on a roundabout sign just near my house, this blossomed:
2 comments:
Richmond, the capitol of stencil graffiti? just asking... I live in DC and I have just begun to get serious about stencils. no one else here is doing it, or maybe I just feel alone 'cause i'm a chick.
Actually, it is Richmond, Australia (which is a suburb of the big city, Melbourne). You can learn more about the street art in Melbourne at this wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art_in_Melbourne
Good luck to you with your art!
(Ironically, Bronco Billy is from Richmond, Virginia.)
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